Democracy is generally considered to have its origins in ancient Greece. In the city-state of Athens, adult males met to debate, decide and enact the law. In larger societies it becomes physically impossible for the citizens to assemble in one place and debate the issues of the day. Representative or Parliamentary Democracy deals with this problem. Voters in a district or constituency elect a member to represent their interests in the Parliament. In the British Parliament, each Member of Parliament represents about 93,000 souls.

In the British system, each MP is constrained by the party whip on most issues and one can ask legitimate questions about the nature of the representation. Questions which are further confused by our move to a Presidential rather than Cabinet format under New Labour and Tony Blair. In the American system, the need to raise enormous amounts of campaign funds corrupts and distorts the representation. Representative or Parliamentary Democracy may be the prevalent system but it is far from ideal in delivering representative government.

Various attempts have been made to get around the inherent problems of the First Past the Post system. In Scotland, we use three different voting procedures. Westminster elections use First Past the Post. The May 3rd Elections for Holyrood will use the Constituency and Regional elections with list candidates to arrive at some measure of Proportional Representation. The May 3rd Elections for local council will use the Single Transferable Vote system.

The technology exists to allow a single vote per citizen on any issue. Using the internet or satellite communication it is possible to poll every voter without the large expense of the current paper based voting methodology. This would be possible by issuing a unique password to each voter, by issuing a coded doggle to each internet voter or by using the satellite TV system and issuing an individual card to each voter. Any issue could be presented in the media and the opinion of all eligible voters registered and counted. Issues like going to war in Iraq or the ban of smoking in public places. Both of these issues have been decided by our political masters with little real public input.

Representative or Parliamentary Democracy constrains public opinion to the policies of the major political parties. These are usually represented in a linear fashion, with Labour on the left, the Lib-Dems somewhere in the middle and the Tories on the right. However actual public opinion will vary depending on the issue under discussion and will be multi-dimensional rather than linear. An accurate, real time, voting system would reflect this variation in public opinion and allow public policies which are a true reflection of the public mood rather than the whim of an uninspired politician.

In fact, with an accurate, real time voting system, we don't need politicians. Political parties, including this one, would be obsolete. There is no need for a Parliament. The will of the people can be registered and implemented without any political intermediaries. A True Democracy.

A big concept and big concepts require time for reflection and thought. If there was no Parliament, how would the public business get done? The way it gets done now. Civil servants implement Parliamentary decisions and would implement the will of the people. Who would decide on the issues to put before the people? We have assembled a Dream Team of successful Scots who would form an Executive. They could debate relevant issues and decide if they needed public input. Would the voting system be secure? There are security concerns with any voting system. This issue would have to be given priority in designing the system to be used.

Scotland can lead the way to a new Age of Enlightenment.

A Free Nation, the world's first True Democracy.